Ghost Unit 248
by The Legendary Zero
Summary: Arcturus Mengsk has assigned a new captain, Zero Siloh, to a special ops regiment, Unit #248. Little does Zero know of their true capabilities, and the capability of one young ghost in the squad who becomes a pawn in Mengsk's game.
1. Prologue

**Note: This is a really old story I posted on a Starcraft site's fanfiction section. It's old, and the site's been deleted. I'm putting this up for pity of a forgotten story. Also, i'm pretending that i'm not neglecting my account. Revised a bit, but not much.**

Arcturus Mengsk sat at his desk, signing forms and reading reports. Mengsk had just overthrown the Confederacy and established the Terran Dominion.

Mengsk had also lost his best Commander. Jim Raynor had left after Mengsk betrayed Kerrigan at New Gettsyberg. He wanted nothing more than to punish Raynor for his actions, even though they were on account of Mengsk's own actions. Somewhere along the way, Arcturus Mengsk had lost his humanity.

The door of the rectangular office gently opened.

"Ahhh...Zero, how goes unit 414?"

The officer, Zero, looked at Mengsk with a hollow look in his eyes,"After we were sent to the Harks Installation, they were attacked by a Zerg Queen," the sorrowful officer paused,"they all had parasites eat them from the inside-out, it was too late for them when I got to the medical station."

"I am so sorry," said Mengsk in the same voice he would use to describe the weather.

Zero silently seethed with rage at Mengsk's uncaring."Well..._sir_, why did you call me then?"

"As you know, unit 414 has been one of the most successful special ops units we have ever had at our disposal...however after the recent incident, it seems only you, the captain, are still alive."

Zero waited impatiently. Mengsk usually got straight to the point. Unless it was news that he was supposed to pretend to care about.

"Are you going to discharge me, sir?"

Mengsk was taken aback."I expected more patience of you captain."

Zero glared the dictator in the eye, still seething.

"I have decided that since you have lost your squad, and squad #248's leader has left, to...spend time with his familiy, I am putting you as-

"NO!", screamed Zero aloud. Squad #248 was the worst Ghost unit in existence. They were the joke of the entire special ops regiment (and somehow, the Marine Academy's). They failed or retreated every mission. No wonder their squad leader had left.

"What did you say to me, Captain Siloh?"

"Sir, I must apoligize for my outburst, I should not question my superior."

Arcturus did not understand that Zero was still emotional about his team's deaths. Mengsk had lost his humanity long ago. First chance Zero had, he would leave the corrupt hold of the tyrant. Now, however, was a time of war, where noone was safe. That meant his greatest chance of survival was serving this evil son of a bitch.

Mengsk, satisfied, picked up a folder, paused, then picked up a different folder on the edge of his desk and handed it to the captain.

"Get out of my sight, and I hope to hear nothing but good reports from your unit!,"said Mengsk in an intimidating tone.

"Yes sir."

Squad #248 consisted of 6 people, now only 5 thanks to the captain's leave. None of the crew were impacted by the lost leader, seeing as their leader only gave orders and yelled if something went wrong. What was up with that?

The 5 of the crew were in dropship quarters, awaiting their new leader to board.

Zero entered the ship, quite reluctantly, and found the crew sitting idly by in a 7-man table.

Zero looked around at his new team. He had already read the reports and descriptions, and recognized them instantly.

Sara was working away at her computer pad. Sara had brown hair, blue eyes and was in her 30's. She was quick, cold, and talkative as a tree. She was a veteran sniper and most importantly, team tactician.

Brago was a muscular man in his late 30's. He was fairly dark-skinned, had black hair and brown eyes. Usually, a man so large would not be selected for special ops and mental training, being a Ghost was about stealth. However, he had proven he could move as quick as anyone in basic training by sneaking up on his drill sergeant (who'd been working in the special ops regiment since Mengsk was a child) and, once, scared him into nearly shooting Brago with a Gauss Rifle he was carrying. That had straightened out Brago, and the sergeant picked him and 30 other recruits out of 50 to move on to advanced training. Zero was not sure what his role in the squad was, though he guessed it was powerhouse.

Kenny was in his late 20's. He had light colored brown hair and matching eyes. Kenny was jumpy and full of cowardice at the sight of a Zergling. However, he knew how to stay cool and calm only in front of a computer. Of course, he was the team computation and hacking expert. Zero thought his description sounded rather cliche, and wondered why the hell they would include that cowardice statement until he noticed it was a note by the last leader.

Zak was only 18, red-haired with brown eyes. Zak was arrogant and laid-back. Usually the age limit for becoming a ghost was 20, but Zak had gotten in because he was as psionically gifted as a High Templar. He had come from Earth at age 6, and had joined the ghost program by 12 when his parents died. His psionic abilities led to self activation cloaking system. He was as quiet as a real ghost could ever be. He was gunning superior of the group(only ghost in unit that instead of a rifle, carried a machine-gun and pistol).

Nora was also young and gifted like Zak. She was 19 with blue hair and gentle green eyes(she had refused to die her hair to a less conspicuous color). After she had seen her parents devourered first-hand by a Ultralisk, she joined the Ghost program for revenge. Despite this however, Nora was cheerful, always lifting team spirits. She was team explosives expert.

Zero himself was black-haired, brown eyed, and in his young 30's. His psionic powers were helpful in masking his footsteps and sending telepathic orders to his squad. Zero had joined at age 20 and rapidly climbed rank to captain due to all his successful reports. Zero was serious, dedicated, and loyal. He was of course, the new team captain.

Zero looked around at his new squad. They didn't bicker and were at full attention.

So Zero had to ask himself, why did unit #248 have such a bad reputation?

"Well squad, I am your new team captain, you will address me only as Captain Siloh. You will follow all orders without question."

"Sir!", the team stood and saluted.

Zero just didn't understand, this squad was like a well oiled machine, what was their problem? This squad had the lowest and most insulting rank of the Special Ops ladder, a rank D.

Zero opened his folder and gasped. Missions were also rated from D to S. This mission was rank A. For his show of disrespect earlier, Mengsk had given him a assignment for skilled Rank A or S members. Zero vaguely recalled the folder Mengsk had dropped before.

Their first mission:

Capture James Raynor, alive or dead.

------

**Weak and ridiculous story filled with errors. This is not my recent writing, and it is extremely weak and I apologize. Ok, enjoy.**


	2. Mission 1: S&D Raynor

BADLY WRITTEN. Ok maybe not that bad, but just remember this is my early work, albeit substantially revised. Note: I realize how much this sounds like Star Wars, but that was not my intention.

Zero wore a grim look on his face as the Shuttle of Unit #248, Firefox, sped towards their destination. He had been given the worst squad and had to do a Rank A mission? Mengsk was truly a cruel monster.

The file folder with the mission only told Zero to seek Raynor on Vaprin where a scout wraith had supposedly seen him heading to. He had no clue as to the real whereabouts of Raynor.

The unlucky captain sighed and took out his armor.

In the breifing room in the middle of the Firefox, the crew was confering on the mission ahead.

"How the hell are we supposed to get Raynor, I mean James the FUCKING Raynor?!,"whined Zak.

"If we do catch up to him, I can take him easy.",for emphasis Brago slammed down on the table, earning him a stern look from Sara.

"Look, you muscle-bound idiot,we are not going to run up to Raynor and punch him out. We're not even going to find him before he's off to the next place. James Raynor is no fool, if someone spotted him, he spotted them back."

"Ah c'mon Ser...",said Nora,"we can do it just like we did the other missions."

Kenny snorted, and spoke,"Yeah our last mission reports should have gotten us to the top but Brago had to go and-"

Kenny stopped short as Zero entered the breifing room. Zero spoke firmly to his new and allegedly horrible squad,"Ok, you know our mission objectives, but we need to learn more about Vaprin...Kenny did you get any data on it?"

Kenny recited at top speed,"Planet Vaprin is home to many alien species on the far rim of the galaxy. Vaprin has 4 major cities in the skies, as the planet has few pieces of solid mass. However, gravity is concentrated there by unknown means and the cities are built on large platforms with giant support columns that lead to the few solid pieces of mass. The natives believe that ancient sky people built the cities like this and ever since, the columns magically stay in place with no cracks or no evidence of wear, despite the heavy and acidic mist that could disintegrate a man in a matter of minutes. There is also a history of-"

"OK!, WE GET IT, large platforms, aliens, outer rim, 4 cities, all we need to know Kenny!," cried an annoyed Zak.

Zero was about to do the same thing, so he didn't scold his junior officer as much as he should have.

"Ok squad, lets talk strategy...Sara?"

Sara took out her datapad, then spoke."If we encounter Raynor, I have laid out a plan for each city if we encounter him where I think we will..."

Zasz, Daggoth, and a newly born cerebrate, Srej(cerebarate in campaign) all homed in on the Overmind's signal. They all heard the voice,"My children, I have acquired a prize through one of our victories, this prize could be my greatest agent."

The Overmind continued,"However, it is sending out Psychic impulses to a human being known as Jim Raynor...it appears this human is very important to my prize. Srej, watch over the cryhsalis. Zasz and Daggoth, send a force to retrieve the human from planet Vaprin where the signals are being sent."

The Overmind then broke off contact.

"Anything else sir?"

"No, thank you m'am."

Unit 248 had looked through two of the major cities in the past eight days. Zero was getting thoroughly frustrated, they had searched everywhere, including the places Sara had guessed (bars, alleys visible on the map, discreet motels...). Of course, missions could take longer times, but it was extremely possible that Raynor could have already left the planet.

The crew was exhausted from their fruitless and straight days of searching. Kenny despaired that if they had some of Raynor's D.N.A, he could use his advanced computer tracker to find him easily.

Zero looked around at his tired crew and spoke,"Look, I know we haven't been getting any results, but this squad needs a success, so lets keep looking for a few days until we are sure Raynor is off-world."

The crew groaned. Zak yawned and said,"Do we have to get into that armor?, I mean come on, I dont think we are going to find him, so why break our backs with that heavy paperweight?"

After a few minutes of convincing, Zero relented and told them to only carry guns and datapads. Brago had a small capsule with a button on top, but when Zero asked about it, the crew remained silent.

The unit traipsed outside into a new city. Despite popular opinion, Vaprin wasn't a beautiful city on the clouds. Vaprin was like a major city on Earth, like New York or San Francisco (only there were mostly alien species that had unpronouncable names rather than humans).

Gangs fought, and species were shunned by the other self-declared superiors. Buildings lay in disrepair and the once luxurious sky planet was as high class as a mindless Zergling in a brood.

The unit had already adjusted and carried the guns in public, without being stopped at all. Zak, finally running out of his youthful energy, spoke,"Captain Siloh, why do we have to walk around for nothing... I mean, there's no action around here."

Suddenly, Sara stopped in her tracks, a terrified look on her usually passive eyes. The others stopped too, perplexed. Then they slowly craned their heads upward as Sara's had.

Above the towering Starlight Cafe, thousands of Zerg fliers were descending on the planet.

Zero, who had seen attacks and massive swarms like this speedily reached for the A.C.L (Advanced Communications Link)and with it called the Vaprin Police along with patrolling fleets of Dominion ships in the sector.

"RUN BACK TO THE TOWER!," Zero ordered to his crew. The unit was one step ahead of him, (or simply full of cowardice), as they sped back to the hotel for their gear. Fortunately, the Zerg were still too high to do any damage, giving the unit time.

By now the citizens of the forsaken planet had seen the tiny specs of Zerg in the sky and were running for cover. The VDF(Vaprin Defense Forces) were not prepared for a battle. They had few air ships in their disposal, but there had been no need to defend the small planet of no importance-until now. The police were only there to protect citizens from petty gangs.

Jim Raynor sighed. He had finally reached the Starlight Cafe. He had memories here, of a happier time of not-too-long-ago. For peace of mind, he had visited the spot that he and Kerrigan once (dated?) and also where they'd...well that was not important anymore. Raynor wasn't exactly sure if it was a date, but certainly it had turned into one in a hurry.

He was plagued by dreams of Kerrigan calling out to him among millions of swarms of Zerg. Evidently, he was going mad as he watched thousands of Zerg coming down on the-

"Oh shit!" That was no insane hallucination. There WERE thousands of Zerg outside. Raynor gripped his gun and headed outside in a mad rush to somehow avenge his dead love.

Or so he thought.

The unit had dressed up in lightning speed and had all their gear at the ready.

The men wore black armor, strong and steady, but silent. The woman wore slick black uniforms that, as Zak so wisely put,"Makes Nora hotter and Sara mildly attractive". All of them carried rifles except for Zak, who carried a machine gun and pistol. Brago still held his strange capsule device, but Zero figured he would find out what it was for later. Their masks had goggles with triple lenses that could see normal vision, nightvision, and thermal vision.

As they were filing out of the building, an acid bomb nearly struck Brago on the head. He had just cheated death by 5 inches. The Guardians and Mutalisks had been sent down as a preliminary force to clear a path for the Overlords.

All of them activated cloaking shields, but the above Overlords transmitted exact signals of the ghosts' whereabouts. Zak fired away into the skulls of the flying Guardians as the others took cover behind a nearby building.

"Zak damnit!, get over here!",called the captain.

"Haha! Relax Captain, this is getting fun!". Indeed, the young officer had caused 6 Guardians and 4 Mutalisks to fall with his amazing aim, and had done it with a satisfied smile on his face. But all too soon, the fun ended when a Glave Wurm ripped into his arm.

Zak screamed in pain and surprise as 3 more deadly Glave Wurms covered his right leg (none of them bounced off, as he was a lonely target and there had been no need for the Mutalisk to aim for multiple targets). The squad instantly mobilized to protect the fallen Ghost. Sara sniped down the creatures with fatal shots that pierced the brain's of the flying Zerg (without capacity to recieve transmissions from Overlords, Zerg are useless, even though a headshot would technically not be enough to kill them)

Brago ran to bring Zak to the cover of the building as Nora and Zero fought the unholy fliers. Kenny was making feeble attempts at copying Sara's deadly accuracy, but it was not easy as he could not aim well from behind a wall and while shaking from head to toe.

Most of the Zerg air fleet had broken off to cover the planet, but the 6 brave Ghosts(now 5 as Zak was out cold)fought the still impossible odds of about 40 Guardians and 30 Mutalisks.

In a flash, Jim Raynor arrived at the scene of Unit 248's battle by Vulture. Of course, not knowing that those were his would-be assassins, he got out and provided more cover for the muscle bound figure of Brago.

Brago had just gotten Zak under cover as Zero joined him.

"Hey who the hell is that?,"said Brago as Raynor sprinted up, gun still firing.

Zero gasped, it was Raynor! Their prey had come to them. Zero telepathically communicated to his squad, who were still fighting. Nora came up as Kenny, with a sudden burst of bravery (or an excuse not to be labeled as a coward)took her place firing upon a speedy set of Mutalisks.

Raynor looked at the three silent soldiers questioningly, why didn't they say anything? "Look, do you guys want my help, or not?"

Zero, considering his options, decided to have Raynor help.

"Yes...of course...just provide more fire at those fliers...and be sure not to stray far from our group."

Raynor, sensing something, said,"Hey you guys look like Dominion Ghosts...what are you doing out here?"

Before Zero or Brago could make up something, Nora said,"Oh we've been sent to kill you." Raynor had a dumbstruck and a bit of a betrayed look on his face, but before anything more could be said, the VDF had arrived and were helping the Ghosts fight back.

"HEY!, guys still under fire, less chat more attack!", cried Kenny. Even with the VDF, they were still vastly outnumbered, and the Dominion reinforcements wouldn't arrive for hours. Brago pulled out his capsule device as Zero spoke over the VDF sirens,"James Raynor, we need your help, if you do...we won't kill you."

Raynor could have been shot down easily if he tried to run, and he couldn't shot one of them and expect escape."I really gotta stop playing the hero,"groaned Raynor aloud.

Zero was struck by an unpleasent memory as he said that,"Trust me, it never does pay off in the end."

Raynor, Zero, and Nora dove out and attacked the bombarding Zerg. Brago turned to Zak and pushed the button on his capsule. Instantly, the capsule turned into a compact medic kit. Brago didn't like to admit it, but he was the team medic. A damn good one too.

Brago pulled out a pre-prepared anesthesia needle, a drain, a swablike device, and bandages. He had to pull out the Glave Wurms, prevent infections by Zerg or normal means, and fight against blood loss.

Most of the VDF were eradicated, but other than Zak's injury, and a few drops of acid on Sara's armor(it would be nothing more than an unpleasent burn mark when she took the armor off), the unit was remarkably safe.

The flyers finally died out, but the Overlords finally touched down on the ground and Zerglings, Hydralisks, and Ultralisks streamed down the Overlord's tendrils. Taking down 60 of the Zerg's air force with about 20 men (and 2 women) was a feat on its own, but being able to defeat a ground force of zerg with no air or artillery support and minimal numbers was a military impossibility.

"We gotta go, NOW!",yelled Kenny. All the others silently agreed.

"My Vulture can take me and someone else out of here," offered Raynor as he replaced his empty gun with his last clip of ammo.

Brago had cleaned up Zak's wounds and administered bandages.

"Get Zak out of here, and please return him,"said Nora with a soft and pleading voice.

Raynor nodded, tears almost coming to his eyes as he thought of how much he had cared for Kerrigan, as this girl undoubtedly did for the boy, Zak. "I'll bring him back, I promise."

Zero muttered something about trusting their quarry, but agreed with it. The squad gathered on the side of the building Brago and Zero were. Raynor carefully lifted Zak into the back of his Vulture and got in himself.

Raynor sped off towards the city's main hangar where their ships would be parked, hoping for the rest of the Ghosts to intercept him there.

Unit #248 sought cover inside the building as annoyed Zerglings and Hydralisks sped in after them. The building was a 20-story apartment complex, most of the residents sought cover behind desks and inside rooms. The Zerg in front sped through to the Ghosts while the Zerg behind systematically killed everyone in hiding and in their rooms, whether it be strong men or crying children.

The unit had sped up the first three floors, Zerg in pursuit. Brago stopped at the flight of stairs to the fourth landing."You guys go on...I'll be with you as soon as I take some of these bastards."

Noone questioned the muscular medic as they continued up. The residents in the complex had locked their doors so the Ghosts couldn't warn them even if they did stop.

Brago heard terrifying screams and scuffles below as the Zerg killed all the innocents in the building. The first Zergling came into sight as Brago fired right between the eyes. As the Zergling fell, Hydralisks with claws stained with blood appeared. They fired acid as Brago ducked and went into a crouch position and fired back.

Zerglings leapfroged from behind and jumped with bloodthirsty looks in their eyes. Brago stepped back and fired from his top step perch. Two Zerglings fell dead as dozens more practically flew in the tight corridor. Four Zerglings reached Brago and jumped, but with lightning reflexes, Brago took out the pistol he had taken from Zak and fired 6 times in quick succession.

The Zerglings and another approacing one fell dead before they finished their jump. Brago was tough, but he wasn't stupid, he was already being overwhelmed. He took off after his fleeing friends.

Zero and the others were on the top step of the flight to the eighth floor, worried about their courageous friend. On telepathic orders, they all readied their guns for oncoming Zerg and to wait for Brago.

They waited for Brago for three strenous minutes, until Brago came out screaming with Zerglings practically hanging onto his back. They all fired and four Zerglings went dead. Their perch wasn't too secure as the Zerglings and slower Hydralisks spilled out.

They ran all the way to the sixteenth floor and realized their body's adrenaline was the only thing keeping them from dying from exhaustion.

They waited for the end as Zerglings and Hydralisks screamed with bloodthirsty glee below. Suddenly gunshots were heard from below, and there was complete silence. A man in a marine uniform stepped out,"Ahah...you were what they were chasing eh?, heh...good thing our patrol was near this planet in the-hey are you listening?"

The entire squad had just fell over in relief and exhaustion and was nearing unconsciousness while the Dominion officer chattered.

The unit had been saved just in time as the reinforcements arrived. After resting and getting well-deserved 'refreshments' to rejuvenate their tired systems, they headed for the hangar as the Dominion was liberating the planet at top speed.

They were anxious to reach the hangar to see if Raynor had kept his word. Sure enough, there was Raynor, standing next to a tired Zak. "So...you gonna kill me now?", he asked.

Zero considered, then sighed and said,"No...we won't." All the work had been for naught. Raynor smiled and said his thanks, then took the biggest ship (the Hyperion) and disapeared into the stars. Kenny took out a strand of hair he had kept."This is Raynor's hair...we can track him through my D.N.A scan if we know the general direction and planet he is-", the unit just shook their heads, Raynor had helped them, he didn't seem a very good assassination target.

Zero had seen the work of an S rank squad that day, so why the hell were they a D rank? He had found no evidence of the squad being incapable. Sara had made useless tactics for numbers of places, Brago had saved Zak from a probable parasitical infection, the squad had incredible aim, and they all worked toghether and followed orders perfectly.

"You have got to tell me, why does Ghost Unit #248 have such a lousy reputation?"

Everyone glared at Brago with a look of spite. Brago blushed crimson red. Nora spoke with a bitter tone,"Brago, got something you wanna share to the class?"

Brago sighed and said,"Uhh...well, me and the woman in charge of the Ghost regiment and handling reports kinda were in the same room, and we had a little too much to drink, and we kind of...well..."

Sara spoke,"When they came back to sanity, she got mad...real mad."

Zak spoke up,"Ever since, she sabotaged our reports and made it so they were failed, then gave corrupted squads the mission we had done and they instantly got a success report...I tried delivering it, but they didn't let me hand deliver it unless it was checked by her, and Kenny tried hacking the report to Mengsk's desk, but-"

"That bitch is a better hacker than I am!",yelled Kenny in shame.

Zero just stared. All the stories, all the failed reports...not true?

After a moment of silence Zero spoke,"I have a friend high up, right below her actually, if I can convince him to read over the reports instead, maybe they can go through, that is when we complete a mission next time,"he paused as a new thought occured to him,"if you knew you were going to get an instant fail, then why did you try so hard on this mission?"

The crew looked around, then Nora spoke,"We knew you lost your squad, we were trying to prove that we can live up to them in your eyes."

Zero was glad of his helmet, as the unit could not see the emotion contorting his face. He was touched.

"Well...you've certainly earned it."

"Its getting late, lets head back to the Firefox and get our failure report in," said Kenny.

Zero didn't move as the others made way to their ship. Nora turned,"Captain Siloh, are you coming?"

Zero looked up from the the ground, smiled, and said:

"Call me Zero."


	3. Mission 2: Return to Harks

**Remember I have revised this but is a very old story.**

"This is unacceptable!,"boomed the Overmind. After his cerebrates reeled in terror, he began regaining his calm disposition, and spoke,"how could you have lost one human on that pathetic planet?"

Zasz spoke in a scared tone,"We sent thousands, Oh great Overmind, b-but we didn't know that there was someone on that planet with relations to the Dominion, Raynor certainly didn't call..."

Srej came into connection, not knowing he (it?) was interrupting an important conversation."Oh great Overmind, your prize has reached mature stages...it will be hatched soon." The Overmind, annoyed, severed connection with Srej and continued berating his underlings.

Daggoth spoke next in a nervous tone,"Why is this ....human so important to the prize you speak of?" The Overmind actually paused to think it over then spoke,"I suppose this human isn't that important, however, I would like to find out who called the Dominion and ruined our plans...it wasn't the local police, they don't have contact with the Dominion."

Daggoth continued, in a tone bolder than Zasz,"I do have a few Overlords who lived through the assault, if they saw anyone with this James Raynor I can look through their memory banks and compare it with some other." Zerg that ruled over others could infiltrate memory banks with ease, then match the picture like a supercomputer could with another's memory.

"Do it then,"said the Overmind," find the fools who did this. Daggoth I am giving you this duty, Zasz I am sending you to help fight our Protoss friends...

Zero once again entered Arcturus Mengsk's office. He had been called there under serious terms.

"Captain Siloh, I dearly hoped you could boost Unit #248's reputation, however with your recent failure, I am afraid I must discharge you and your squad. Dismissed." Zero stared defiantly at the tyrant. "Sir, you can't discharge me."

"Give me one good reason."

Zero paused, considering the unlikely sounding truth, or a well fashioned lie. No, a lie couldn't go past Mengsk, he would know. Mengsk waited impatiently for the answer.

Suddenly Zero blurted out,"All the squads mission reports have been sabotaged!"

Mengsk looked on in amusement,"You really expect me to believe that,"Mengak paused and started thinking,"You have always been trustworthy in the past...I dont think you would lie even if you were in a worse squad...hmm...tell me how then."

Zero spoke of how the spiteful leader of the Ghost regiment had sabotaged all the files to make them read failure, save one which was a mission they really had failed."Interesting...I had no idea,"said Mengsk thoughtfully,"hmm..I require proof of these successes...well, if I gave you a Rank A mission and you pass it..I will interrogate the woman in charge of Covert Ops and see if what you say is true."

Zero, surprised by Mengsks' second chance offer, nodded vigourously, and then spoke his thanks as not to get a particulary hard Rank A,"Thank you very much sir, we will pass this mission, I swear to you...whatever it may be."

Mengsk shifted uncomfortably, then spoke slowly,"I have read your old unit's reports on how they were killed, I have even seen the pictures. I think this would be a fitting mission to prove Unit 248's worth." He handed Zero a folder hesitantly. This was not Arcturus Mengsk at all, he made the most outrageous decision and never showed regret. Something was amiss.

Before Zero could check the assignment, Mengsk ushered him out.

Zero and Unit #414 had a mission to do, just a Rank A mission though. Wasn't a big deal for them though...S missions were a regularity. Infiltrating the remaining Confederate's underground installation on Mar Sara was all they needed to do.

The unit was confident they would pull this off with ease. None of them figured it would be their end.

They descended into the Hark's installation after cloaking past a few Zerg that had come to Mar Sara despite the Protoss bombing of the planet. The Harks Installation had somehow, someway, withstood the assault on the service without the underground installation being buried under.

-1 hour later-

They had gotten the disk they needed and were heading out of the Harks Installation, Confederates fast at their heels. Noone could cloak as the Confederates had camera-like devices that could see through the cloak. They left the Installation area smack dab into the Zerg broods.

They cloaked then to avoid Zerg, not Confederates. However, a Zerg Queen was nearby, and it could see through the cloak. As the unit reached the safety of the ship, the Queen fired 10 parasites that moved at the speed of sound towards 5 of the ghosts(2 for each).

Zero was in the cockpit as the crew boarded, getting the ship ready for takeoff. The Eclipse streaked towards the stars, leaving Zerg and Confederates behind.

As Zero was about to express his delight, he turned around to see his crew gathered in the cockpit. They all had bloody holes in their chests where the parasites had entered.

"In-Infected", said one. Then they all collapsed. Zero had not registered this until a minute after they had fallen. Then in a dreamlike state, he piloted the ship to reach medical facilities.

-In the medical room-

There were 8 tables in a colossal room with nurses and doctors rushing about. 5 of the Ghosts were screaming on the operating tables while Zero, standing far back, watched, his heart in pain, but his brain unbelieving. It was a strange sensation watching your loved ones die in front of your eyes. He didn't even register it, even as the doctors took out guns to kill the Broodlings that would burst forth.

About 20 minutes in tense silence, the screaming Ghosts became still and unmoving, and a sound like shrill screams from far away echoed in the room. Suddenly, claw and flesh burst through the body, cutting the chests wide open. The Broodlings burst forth, having grown from miniscule size after feasting on the Ghosts' internal organs.

Zero just stared, still not understanding what happened as the Broodlings died after the doctors had launched bullet after bullet into their flesh. Then the nurses set about cleaning the...mess.

Zero took off his helmet and strode silently to his dead companions. He walked for what seemed like an eternity...doctors were used to crying and screaming families when patients died, not the deathly silence and walking towards mutilated corpses. Everyone stood still, watching the sorrowful man.

He stared at the people he had come to love as family. He would never forget the faces frozen with never ending pain, the hollow eyes unfeeling of any life, and the terrible spill of blood. Their chests were open and with blood that seemed to fill a lake. The inconsistent dripping down the table...again and again, never ending.

Zero then realized, finally, what had happened. His mind refused to believe it before, but now he knew the truth. The doctors felt the aura of sorrow emitted from him that they had grown so used to, but never got over. These soldiers were dead and they would never again return to the living. He yelled out in pain and tears streamed down his face.

Zero had failed the mission....and his unit.

They were gone...forever.

This was the mission that Zero's unit had died.

And this was the mission that Unit #248 was assigned. Zero had barely hung on to his sanity for a terrible, long month that he had taken off. He saw the poor young Ghosts every time he closed his eyes in his nightmares.

Now, Mengsk had given him the assignment of returning to the Harks Installation. The Dictator must have felt that the disc was important, and since the one 414 extracted had been dropped on the way to The Eclipse (their ship), someone had to go and get a new one.

Zero went to the bridge of the Firefox, face passive, to tell his unit of the mission. The unit had no idea when or how Zero's crew had died. Maybe if they succeeded, he would tell them.

Sara sensed something was wrong while Zero spoke of the mission. Despite her guilt, she used her telepathic powers on Zero, but the captain had shielded his mind so fiercely that Sara nearly fainted after being pushed out of his head.

Zero took no acknowledgment about the near-intrusion, and asked Kenny to put the ship on autopilot. Kenny came from the cockpit, wiped his hands free of oil, then spoke of the information he had gathered.

"You see, the Confederates have such low numbers, but still exist, though not as Confederates anymore. These men have been shunned from Mengsk when they did not answer the call to join his army. Many Confederates had gone back to their own homes to live away from the Dominion. However, the underground Harks Installation was built to withstand major attacks from above. Actually, its one of the only ones ever to survive a major disaster, which was the massive Protoss bombing on Mar Sara. However, the Confederates had not been defeated after the bombing, so the installation was unwisely not evacuated. Zerg came back to the waste world of Mar Sara and settled spawning broods all over the planet. Ironically, the Confederates had been defeated afterward, and so when the occupants of Harks tried to get out, they were faced with massive brood swarms too risky to navigate. So the Confederates were left there, helpless."

Brago snorted, then spoke in a skeptical tone,"And where have they been getting their supplies, hmm?"

Kenny, always with the answer, continued running his mouth,"Smugglers and the criminal elite had intercepted a Confederate supply ship, leaving Harks before the brood fliers accompanied their ground forces in greater numbers. The crew was interrogated and had their ship looted. The smuggler who had taken their ship realized the potential that lay in bribing wealthy Confederates in Harks. This famous smuggler, Inagras, was turned down at first, but his reputation caused one criminal mastermind to hear him out. Inagras sent a large team and a few rogue ghosts to the coordinates of where the underground installation lay. The Ghosts, in numbers averaging 20-40, used their telepathic powers to drive Zerg back from the entrance port. Usually Zerg are drawn to Ghosts, but these rogues used a different wavelength to reverse the effect. Inagras parleyed with the Confederates who had brought their money down into the installation, and organized a supply route. Obviously, paying off the rogue telepaths, getting the ships down there, and the risk of getting one or two people cut down made an incredible bill for the Confederates. I think right now that the supply route was cut off a few weeks...days ago and they've been rationing. Remember this wasn't too long ago, actually."

"Actually, that makes a lot of sense,"said Nora,"but if they are going to die anyway, why not wait for them to run out of food, then get...hey, what do we need to get anyway?"

Before Kenny could open his mouth, Zero beat him to it."Those bastards might have more underground or in-space forces somewhere, if they do, we can grab something off their computers and break the code on it. As for why we don't wait for them to lose supplies, we might need to get living data or interrogate someone for a password."

Sara then spoke when Kenny and Zero seemed to be finished,"As for team tactics, I do not have any layouts to study at this time, and will formulate a quick strategy when I get some maps off a computer."

The breifing was long, but finally done. The departing unit, all by telepathic or natural means sensing sorrow heavy in the air.

The Firefox sailed through the stars as the dropship-style ship made its way to Mar Sara. All of them knew what was at stake here, either keeping their jobs or not.

"Entering gravatitional ring, awaiting orders captain,"said Kenny in a tense voice. Zero paused before replying,"Can you get a scan of the broods from here so we can find a landing zone?" Kenny looked at his readouts and saw that there was less thermal energy mass was about two miles southeast of Harks. Kenny nodded and continued down the atmosphere.

Zak and Nora used their advanced psychic minds to cause a weak Zerg repelling aura. The aura wouldn't last long and the Zerg might attack regardless. Everyone in the ship tensed, as one false move or straying from their course could interrupt the aura or cause overly hostile Zerg to attack.

"We are now in the atmosphere, sir,"said Kenny, not daring to take his eyes off the screen. Zero signaled for him to continue his flight, but to land as slow as possible. They were all wearing their slick black Ghost armor, and their exact gear as before, except instead of just Zak, they all carried pistols.

The hatch slowly opened as the nervous crew stepped out onto the crater of their landing site. It wasn't a particularly large crater, but it shielded the ship from sight.

After they got above the crater, they looked around in amazement. The once large colony-planet of Mar Sara was gone replaced by dirt, craters from bombing, and signs of Zerg creep littered everywhere. The creep must have spread out well to reach this far. Unless...

"Squad, switch to thermal, see if any Zerg are hiding under."Sara's sharp eyes spotted something."There, underground, a drone looking creature."

Zak raised his gun in expectance, but Zero motioned for him to drop it."Don't waste your fire Zak, I think its signal reciever is jammed or its Cerebrate or Overlord is having trouble transmitting, lets make sure its going to attack-"

Suddenly before Zero could finish, the Drone popped out and instantly sprayed acid. Nora was hit in the arm while Sara got a shoulderfull of it. Brago immediantly opened its skull with a well aimed bullet from his rifle. Zero considered their fallen attacker and spoke slowly,"I would wager a guess it being a scout Drone...this isn't good, it might have given an Overlord a picture of us."

Their black armor hid their features, but their presence would bring down a Cerebrate's great wrath on them. Brago examined the acid on Nora and Sara, considered, then spoke,"I don't think this is very strong, just brush it on the ground and don't let your flesh touch the acid, which shouldn't be too hard."

After the Drone scare, they all cloaked and made their way to the coordinates of Harks. Thermal readings didn't make Harks more detectable or else it wouldn't be very hidden to Zerg who could only see through thermal. Only the coordinates made truth of its existence. Zerg broods bustled half a mile away as Brago quietly brushed through the spot where the password panel would be.

Brago opened a hatch that matched the color of the ground, only noticable from the old style chain that opened it. In it was a password panel that Kenny, with a glance at his datapad, entered a short code: zeta1268543. The metal gave way under the pass panel revealing a ladder to a seemingly bottomless pit. Zero sighed, and telepathically ordered Brago to descend first(being the largest).

The ladder was rusted and made some disturbing sounds as they descended slowly, still cloaked. Finally, the Ghosts had made it to the Harks Installation. There was a large blast door for some reason at the entrance, with a panel for access.

Kenny cursed as he had no information on the key code. Zero merely brushed past and activated a 5 button string of numbers. The door easily opened as the unit looked on, aghast. "Zero, how did you know?"inquired Zak. Zero shrugged and blocked his mind from about 5 intruders at once."Well crew, we best be on the move now,"said Zero without addressing the unsuccessful trips to his psyche.

There was a long passageway beyond the blast door lined with dirty looking tiles on the floor and rusty metal on the walls. No lightbulbs hung ahead, but the Ghosts merely used Night Vision goggles. The Confederates must be saving their light sources as much as possible, even with the supply shipments before. There must have been reserve energy to open the blast door, but noone really ventured there so it had lay undisturbed, a useless scrap of metal.

The computers were still working as they reached a office-sized door with a transperent glass. Technicians grimly punched away on their keyboards, none a smile on their face. Zero dared to hope that these computers could download the discs they needed, though from his previous visit, he knew they would probably have to go to the main supercomputer for the information.

Zero made both telepathic and hand signals to Zak and Nora. Both with their cloaks still maintained, they psionically unlocked the door, but only so it would leave only a sliver of vision to the room. None of the technicians noticed. The next step was harder. Nora spotted a lone computer and a technician next to it.

She used her psychic ability to slowly, slowly (slowly) nudge it to the edge. The computer teetered and some of the plugs came loose as it crashed down on the ground. A tech official barked angrily at the man, providing long needed amusement and interest to the doomed soldiers. Zak and Nora dashed into the room and with incredible speed, shut the door into its regular position, their intrusion was barely audible over the laughing technicians and angry officer.

Zak took position in the top left corner while Nora took the top right where she was a hand's reach away from the berated technician. She lashed out at the framed lab persona suddenly as the furious officer shoved him lightly. The surprised underling fell, unconscious, to the ground making it look like the officer knocked him out.

While the other personell of the lab rushed over to their fallen friend, Zak grabbed one from behind and knocked him out, laying him under a table. Zak continued to knock out the hapless ones in the back and worked his way up. Only 5 of them were still standing, including the officer, when the rest of the Ghosts, not bothering to keep their cloaks on, burst through the door and shot at one target each. Nora grabbed the shocked officer from behind and held her pistol to his head while the 4 last Confederates fell onto the hard ground, shrapnel buried in their heads.

The officer barely breathed at his assailants, eyes wide with fear and shock."Who the hell are you, I-Ill give you anything, d-dont kill me, dont kill me, please!".

The invisible arms of Nora still held him in place as she asked,"What is the password to the computers here?" The man nearly wet himself as he told the code (Zero had forgotten that code from his previous encounter).

"So what we do with him now?", asked Zak,"do we kill him?"

Zero just motioned for Nora to knock him out and hide the bodies (dead or alive) out of the view of the glass door. Kenny accessed a file folder on a computer and inputed the pass code. Maps, old weapon designs, and security cameras stationed further on(not very smart) popped up. Sara scanned the maps onto her datapad, and spoke in a hushed tone,"There are cameras in every hallway beyond this, and I am afraid they might register thermal sources as well.

"Not good,"sighed Brago,"well I guess we're scre-" Brago stopped abruptly as Zero took the computer from Kenny and clicked on an icon that accessed security cams. He punched a few keys and was on another pass screen. On a psychic signal, Kenny aided him in hacking 101. Zero made it to a coded screen and stood."I set the cameras off. Noone is on guard, most likely, and won't notice. I am sure they didn't expect a few visitors here...anymore."

They finally left the room with Sara silently directing them through the map on her datapad. The Installation was a complex maze that not even Zero remembered everything.

The random placement of the computer room did not match the designs of Harks. That was evident as huge walls of metal seperated rooms. There was a directory for some reason at the front in the otherwise deserted area. Harks was indeed a very large Installation. About 4 Goliath repair bays, 26 computer rooms, and 3 underground levels of quarters. The rest of the rooms had a "Passage Restricted" wrote on them or had nothing at all for really important rooms.

They emerged into a large room with subplating under them. The Ghosts were still cloaked, but took cover anyway as bored Confederate personell used thermal seekers to guard against Ghosts. There were about a dozen of them, and 3 of them guarded a door that Zero had telepathically motioned the squad to.

Their "cover" was a convienient strech of wall that hid them from sight of the doomed men. A few minutes of silence, both in mind and motion, passed as the Ghosts waited for a plan. Sara then used her rather feeble psionic powers to convey her equally feeble strategy,"Zak and Nora will branch out to two sides again and knock out the 3 guarding the door. Seek cover straight after that and while the Confederates look for the cause, we gun them down."

Zak was even against that head-on assault suggestion as he used his greater psionic powers to convey that emotion,"Oh and how do we sneak past their sensors?, and, oh gee, what about the frikin guns they have eh?!"

"Check again Zak," said Nora telepathically after a risky survey of the room,"they have no guns, they're just hunting for Ghosts to do something."

When Zero considered the idea, now knowing that the Confederates held no weapons in the largely spaced room. Then he motioned with telepathic signals for Zak and Nora to carry out the plan. Zak went first as a Confederate turned to talk to his partner while the others either went into groups or continued hunting. Suddenly, one of the Confederates screamed out loud as he saw a thermal source where Nora stood.

With newfound excitement and vigor, the Confederates dashed off to find their dusty guns while the 3 that guarded the door sought cover in streches of wall as well as the Ghosts. The guards must have been sternly told to defend the room, as they all held guns. Though it was not the supercomputer room, it could be important, so Zero decided to stay and fight.

The bullets started up as the guard marines peeked out from their vantage spots and fired at Zak and Nora. Nora rolled out of the way with catlike reflexes and made it to where the other Ghosts assembled. Zak had no cover as he psionically used his mind to help dodge the bullets, he knew he would not last long in the precise art.

Brago charged at one of the guard Marines recklessly as their heat cameras trained on Zak. The first guard didn't know what hit him as Brago's muscular fist made a dent on his exposed face, while making an unpleasent crunching noise at the same time. One of the other marines jumped back as Brago nearly kicked him in the chest. Brago hoisted his rifle and fired the retreating man in the head.

While this was happening, the last man had been charging down through the room to another length of corridor as Zero, Sara, and Kenny came out of their cover spot. Zero didn't even bother to mentally whisper his message as he shouted, "Kenny, use the control panel to open that door, the rest of you find a vantage point and cover him!"

Zak and Nora took the top left hallway as Brago covered the top right. There was a giant blast door dead right of them which Zero prepared to defend. In the center was the door they were trying to go through.

An alarm sounded, though tuned down so not even Zerg ultrasensitive hearing above could sense it. On the other side of the door Kenny was trying to make his way through, scientists fought desperately to block the door to cover up what lay inside the lab."Do something!", cried one to a figure in the corner. The man stood up as he prepared his rifle which could punch a hole in the metal. He also pulled out an energy dagger a rare weapon of Protoss design, made like a Psi Blade, only activated by a small crystal in the hilt) nd prepared to lunge at whatever came through.

"I got it! I got it!",cried Kenny as the access panel turned green for clearance. "Should I open it?".

"No, not yet, lets take care of these guys first!"The Confederates started appearing on all corridors as the Ghosts either used their rifles or their pistols to gun them down. Zero's past visit had passed without problem until a cloaking malfunction had alerted a few Confederates, and only two or three had fallen, so the full occupants at the station would bear down on them.

Marines in full armor bounded up the corridor firing wildly at the Ghosts. Sara fell back in pain as a bullet went into her arm. The Gauss Rifles which actually were machinguns would overpower slow shooting rifles and pistols easily.

The Ghosts had long since abandoned their cloaks and were completely exposed to fire. Zero heard a shot wizz past his ear almost drawing blood."Ugh..KENNY OPEN THE DOOR!, NOW DAMNIT NOW!" Kenny frantically pressed the now flashing open button...

and looked right into the barrel of Inagras' gun. Zak had been surveying this, and with amazing speed and skill used his power to force Kenny's back below the deadly bullet. The bullet sailed past Kenny's nose as it made a large crater in the wall it impacted. Inagras prepared his gun at the frightened Kenny again, but this time Zak used his aim,not his mind and shot a bullet straight into the smuggler's hands as he dropped his customized weapon.

It was clear that Inagras had been stuck here as a form of punishment for trying to bribe the Confederates, but as the Earthlings say, the well was too dry. Inagras was doomed to die here, but the pirate wouldn't go without a fight.

Kenny backed off as Inagras lunged crazily with his energy dagger. Zak could do nothing as the Confederates' in the hallway continued their barrage of bullets, getting closer and closer to the main room. Kenny had to face off against an enemy on his own this time.

Kenny ducked under Inagras's bleeding rifle arm and leaned smoothly out of the way of the energy dagger as he dashed into the lab, pistol blazing as he shot down the scientists picking up weapons. Five of them fell while the rest scattered as Inagras turned and slashed out with his dagger again. Kenny was one step ahead as his advanced mind predicted the time of movement and leapt onto the metal of a desk.

Inagras sneered and spoke in a cocky tone only heard from space pirates,"Ya think your safe from me bitch? Big bad Inagras dropped his gun and he can't hurt you? Think again!"Inagras cackled and THREW his dagger at an unprepared Kenny. Kenny could do nothing as he was impaled on the lower left side of his chest and fell on the hard metal floor barely holding his arms out in time to prevent a concussion.

Inagras then turned and saw the Ghosts still engrossed in battle. The exit was right there and the infiltrators must have a ship somewhere. The tricky pirate left his bleeding prey on the floor as he dashed out unnoticed by the squad. The firefight continued until the last Confederate fell down only after Brago had leapt on him and punched the life out of him.

Immediantly, Zak's thoughts turned to Kenny as they stumbled into the room. Brago spotted the familiar Ghost along with his puddle of blood as he dashed over with his medical capsule ready. Nora knocked down the scientists still conscious while all but Sara gathered around their fallen friend.

"Hmmm,"Brago said in a tone less than assuring,"the blade is easy enough to remove...but I am afraid it could've hit a critical blood circululating vein or caused damage to intestines."Brago continued chatting with himself as he unignited the energy blade and checked the wound as the unconscious Kenny mumbled delirouisly.

Sara examined the fallen gun of Inagras,"Where's the man who did this..such heavy firepower is not standard issue, in fact the bullet I was hit with barely hurt, it didn't even make an impact on my armor,but look at what this monster did to that wall."

"Lets think about it later,"said Zero, then with a frantic uncharacteristic tone he added,"Brago, will he be ok?"

Brago nodded as he administered a disinfectant and bandaged off Kenny's wound,"Yes I am sure he will live, the damage was not critical..but he'll be out for a while, and we'll be stuck without a computer expert, though I think Sara can take over."

"Our mission isn't over yet guys, we need to keep moving, Brago stay with Kenny and treat him, the supercomputer is not too far off," said Zero. Brago turned to Kenny and decided to make a not-so-hasty treatment this time.

The other Ghosts made their way to the top left hallway, only following Zero. The captain spoke as they made their way,"We have to pass a Goliath repair bay and two hallways before we reach the supercomputer room. I'm not sure if many more Confederates are left here and the alarms have died down, but don't drop your guard."

Sure enough the crew made it to a massive Goliath repair bay. Actually, it was more like a Goliath storage bay as the Goliaths never were damaged from Harks and stayed here collecting dust. The squad descended the steps as quietly as real ghosts and frantically searched the hall in front of them, finding no marks. As they left the bay, relieved,a loud sound of metal clanking against metal came from behind. The Goliaths all were activated as the Confederates inside them guided the mechanical menaces to destroy the intruders.

"DAMNIT AMBUSH!"cried Zak as he fired his machingun at the Goliaths. The rest of the Ghosts ran away while Sara stopped and regarded the young officer with an air of disgust."These Goliaths won't be affected by bullets you idiot, be smart and run."

An embarrased Zak ran from the twin turrets blazing at him as a dozen Goliaths moved with remarkable speed. They rounded the hallway as the barely slower Goliaths came up, not even bothering to conserve ammunition as they fired away at the walls and ceiling,

In the last hall to the computer room, a blockade of six Marines awaited them to complete the ambush. As the sounds of approaching footsteps reached them they raised their guns and fired at the bewildred Ghosts.

The bullets only made dents in the wall as the four of them ducked and squeezed off their answering fire. The Confederates hadn't expected the counter and were weighed down with lead until they fell in bloody, screaming, messes. The foursome jumped over the bodies as the Goliaths rounded the turn and fired in a straight line in the narrow corridor. Luckily, a Confederate Marine had uneasily stood up and took all the shots of the first two Goliaths.

The rest of the Goliaths crammed single file and crushed their fellow outlaws as they pursued the prey. The Ghosts continued up until they reached another office size door and opened it. Amazingly, it was unlocked as two officers lifted their guns. The unit had expected thisand fired their pistols into the unlucky officers.

The guns the Ghosts were using went long without reloading, but eventually the rifles ran out. The Ghosts crammed their munitions in and closed the door from the Goliaths. Sara went on the computer and hurriedly searched the database. The supercomputer wasn't a large computer which contained endless information, it was a computer that held all important and top secret data, not looking particularly special. Sara scanned the disc and took it out."We got the info, but we need a way out!".

A narrow hallway where the center was a computer room with no exits...hopeless situation anyone would say. They were trapped like rats. No convenient vents hung above like in spy movies(Zak checked)and no doors or secret passages magically appeared. The Goliath in front fired a Hailfire Missile right at the door as it blew off the hinges.

The Goliaths bounded into the room trying to find the hidden Ghosts. None to be found. They were all gathered in the room now and stayed clear of the broken door. Then the stupid pilots realized what had happened as they turned around and fired without aim at supposedly cloaked Ghosts in the hall.

Nothing.

The shots couldn't have missed and the Ghosts couldn't have rounded the corridor so fast.

Then,a beeping was heard and hasty footsteps too as the Ghost squad dashed down the corridor. Suddenly, before the Goliaths could open fire, one of the Goliaths blew up causing a chain reaction, massive explosions could be heard as flesh and machine were torn apart.

Nora grinned evily and spoke to the retreating Ghosts,"Good thing I had a few stick-on bombs with me this time, they didn't even know we hid under and planted the bombs."Nora was team bombing expert, but never really had a chance to show it, as blowing open doors and people was not very stealthy.

The unit met no more resistance as they met up with Brago and Kenny. Without speaking, Brago grabbed hold of Kenny in his arms(no wise cracks please)and retreated with the Ghosts all the way to the ladder, passing the computer room they had encountered. Brago made an imposible feat of carrying Kenny in one arm and still climbing with the other. Kenny was barely conscious and tried helping Brago by grabbing onto the rungs when Brago slipped.

Zero led the way to the top and helped the remaining Ghosts off, dragging Kenny to one side while Brago struggled up. They needed to find their ship and get off the planet, though only the Zerg truly posed a threat now, and they were miles away still.

The tired crew easily made it to their ship and climbed aboard. Zero was last on as Zak came out to see what was taking him."Zero, are you-", a screeching sound cut out Zak's voice as a Zerg Queen looked down at the crater. Instantly, Zero knew this was THE Queen that had caused him so much grief. He fired away at the Queen, who merely backed away and fired off two parasites and left.

The parasites locked onto Zak and zipped to him in unbelievable speed. Zero had seen the movement too late to stop it, and then as the Queen had fired, he lost hope. Then with sudden speed he shot down the two parasites in one shot as he thought of his fallen friends.

He stared at his gun in disbelief as Zak pulled him on board.

Brago started up the engines, and the Firefox went into space, their ordeal finished.

"..It took me a month before I finally came up to Mengsk..". Zero had just finished his tale of Unit #414's demise. The tired unit was now in the Dominion Space docks, just having landed. Kenny was at full attention, though his pain was great.

Zero didn't believe in Ghosts of the pasts, but something had happened when he had saved Zak from the parasite. He knew it was going to happen, but there certainly wasn't time to aim or even to shoot at the parasites. All he had seen when he shot were his old friends and all he had felt was his sorrow when he had lost them. Zak had no sign of infection and the parasites just blended in with the blasted planet of Mar Sara as little specks of flesh.

"Well captain I must say I am impressed with your work",Mengsk paused, then continued,"you were right about the sabotage of unit #248's reports. The woman and the corrupt captains that took credit are fired. As for your squad, I am giving you a more than deserved Rank B, as I am afraid I can't make it higher because of the sabotaged reports. Dismissed."

Feeling he had finally gotten the better end of the deal after a conference with Mengsk, Zero left the room to tell his squad the news.

Meanwhile, inside the Firefox, Inagras climbed out of the storage room and crept of the ship. Not able to figure out the password to the ship's system he had hidden away hoping his near killers would take him to safety. He had many allies still and would meet them soon, right after he plundered a ship from the Dominion. He hoped the criminal that had lost money over the Confederate supply route deal would take him back in. His name?

Alan Schezar.

This chapter was quite long and I really apoligize for that. To you guys who have read this, thanks XD. If you liked it I will continue, if you didn't, I will end this series and start another.

**That was what I said before I realized how bad my writing was a year or two ago.**


	4. Mission 3: Steel Wolves Part 1

This is an old fic. I repeat, I wrote this a while ago.

The Firefox had landed on the galactically revered space station, Voyager's Start. The station was about the same size as the planet Pluto in the Earth people's galaxy. The station was giant floating orb with docks so large, that the carriers of the Protoss were about a hundreth that size. The inside of the large black orb contained casinos, stores, bars, resteraunts, indoor hotels, pools, arcades, laser ball courts, museums, etc...

Unit #248 left the Firefox in private landing port #4005. As many envious militia and civilians know, Ghosts are payed extremely well for service done. However, a deluxe package to Voyager's Start that the Ghosts had gotten was certainly not cheap. After Zak threatened to sue Mengsk for not giving them pay for the missions in the past(the ones which reports were sabotaged)the Dominion had offered this package as conselation.

The Ghosts were simply on vacation, and Voyager's Start harbored an almost equally extravagant ship called Proton Star. For ripping off Mengsk's resources by this outrageously high priced package, the Ghosts grudgingly gave Zak the hundred they had each bet on the court case not passing. He also earned a right good kiss from Nora and a rare thanks from Sara.

They left all their gear and guns on the Firefox as they departed to the room they would be staying until the Proton Star launched on its 23th space cruise. The Proton Star would be going on a 5 day trip to th planet Kahrg on the outer reaches of the galaxy, then on a 5 day trip back.

The long flight to the space station had only excited the Ghosts, as they went down to one of its many attractions. Well, all of them except for Zak and Nora who locked the hotel room door and were alone for hours...

Inagras continued traveling among the stars until he finally reached his destination, planet Takara. Though he was not a Takaran himself, his crime lord was. He docked in his own private landing zone and exited the ship he had stolen. Though he had cheated slow death in the Harks Installation, he was locked there in the first place for punishment. He was not sure Alan Schezar would take him back in.

Alan Schezar was the most infamous space pirate to ever defile the system, right next to the unamed system where the Protoss, Terrans, and Zerg were most abundant. Schezar was filthy rich as is, but he wanted to control his native star system and beyond in an impossible vision of conquest from there to Earth.

Schezar had stealing, smuggling, drug dealing, murder, damage of property, assault with weapons, and rape charges against him. Schezar was no fool though, as his reputation of a genius, tactical expert, and knowledge of more than a dozen languages proceeded him. Schezar was so powerful, he even named his criminal group instead of keeping it secret. He calls them The Steel Wolves, quite cliché, but that was the point.

Inagras walked through the dirty city of Takara, heading to the familiar condemned building Schezar's main headquarters was.

'Lets see....building address… Varnz Ave...64578...64579...yes this was it, 64580. "Condemned" was the sign on the door. Inagras went to a side alley and tapped 3 times on the brick of a spot with a chunk of wall missing next to it. A computer scanner appeared, verifying the retinal clearance. A hatch opened to Inagras's left. He sighed in wonderment at Schezar's ridiculous love of the dramatic and the unnecessary.

Inagras came down to the bottom of the ladder and took the underground route lined with metal and found a doorway with a bored guard on duty. The guard didn't bother to clear him, just waved him aside into the still further underground path. He finally reached a door with the large insignia of the Steel Wolves, a traingular shape where two wolves with an iron body on left and right sides were looking up at a globe, supposedly a planet.

There was an installation style maze larger than Harks with criminals and shifty looking aliens and humans bustling about. Some were chatting in the corner smoking, others were working hard or fine tuning their Vultures to go on their ships. Inagras was greeted with jeers and remarks about his luck as he made his way to the chamber Alan Schezar occupied. Sure enough, the hated pirate sat amid two women who were surely about to become topless when Inagras barged in.

"What the hell do you want?" growled the pirate, reaching for his gun.

"I wanted to see if you would give me a second chance," Inagras replied simply.

Schezar laughed as the two women continued their act,

"Oh Inagras, I don't know what I would do without you, I really need someone who can escape like you did from Harks. I mean, I left you stranded on there, without a ship, without any credits to your name, and you survive! I will give you your chance, but only because you are one tough S.O.B and weapons smuggler...and because you're the only one who has the balls to talk like that to me!"

"Thank you, but I would like to make a deal before I completely return to your employ."

Schezar growled and said, "Hurry up and speak, I would like to be alone with these two fine women."

Inagras knew better than to cut into Schezar's me-time session, but went on anyway, "You see, I had a special new gun design when I entered Harks, but I lost it when I fought against a few Ghost agents. I would like to request the Steel Wolves full attention on getting these designs back as I have placed a tracker on their ship."

"What if the Ghosts did not take the weaponry?", inquired Schezar.

"I will work in your employ for 3 smuggling operations and a mission of your choice free then."

Schezar considered, then spoke," Was the weapon really worth so much?" Inagras sighed as though speaking to someone who was dumber than he (it was really the other way around) and responded.

"The weapon was designed by the Confederates and is more powerful than any of the Dominion's weaponry and twice that. If we could mass produce it, and put it on our ships, then the Steel Wolves would be even more deadly than before...and would be a major payday for me I would think."

Schezar hesitated, then nodded, sealing the deal.

The vacationing Ghosts boarded the Proton Star two days later. The Proton Star was filled with entertainment like the Voyager's Start. It was merely a pleasure cruise on the luxury vessel, and a great one at that.

Brago was openly showing his passion by selling out his paycheck to the slot machines. Sara had finally tried what most people call alcohol, and in most cases this was bad, but in her case, she finally got a smile on her face and openly traded stories about 10 of her ex-boyfriends (that explained a lot). Kenny got drunk just like Sara and almost hit on her until he realized who she was.

Though the competitors were mostly the rich and leisurely, some of them knew how to play laser ball much to Nora's delight. She defeated 10 in a row without even getting hit(laser ball is like tennis, the almost the same as the very old style game, an orb of energy is hit by pads on the players hands).

Zak was a monster at the resteraunts, he ate about 5 servings, and when he got back his bill he just told the waiter to give it to his squad leader who'd be happy to pay for it. Speaking of the soon to be bankrupt leader, Zero was making big money at the cards table. Someone accused him of using psychic powers. However instead of striaght up denial, he just shifted uncomfortably.

A man in a black business suit departed his ship on the Voyager's Start. He ignored the drunks and the screaming children. He merely focused ahead to the employee offices. Noone questioned him as he went up to the Southeast section manager's office.

The guard on duty gave a start, but the man merely pulled out an offical looking badge with the insignia of the Dominion on it. The guard was startled, but let the man through.

"Blast it Jonesy what do you want n-,"the manager paused and looked at the man,"Oh, I wasn't expecting anyone."

The man spoke,"I have come here on official Dominion business, it seems that a stolen vessel has docked on this space station. I would like to request full use and investigation of the vessel, Firefox."

"Hmm, a stolen ship...well...if the Dominion asks it so it shall be." And with that the manager waved him away without even signing clearance forms, merely giving the black suited man a pass key to the ship. The man in the suit went to the Firefox, and studied the crew log required for reports. The crew log said that Unit #248 went on the Proton Star.

The man sent a call to his associates about the information. The man smiled at how easy the task had gone, he didn't even have to use his fake I.D or fake name.

The man was Inagras.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Ghosts were all toghether at the luxurious Proton Star resteraunt. Zak was already on his 2nd course and Sara was purely drunken at this point. Kenny was working away at his datapad until his meal arrived, frowning as he checked the area around the ship. Brago and Nora were having a discussion on what was better, laser ball or slots(Nora was winning). Zero looked at the price for cocktails, then at Sara, then cocktails, then Sara again. Zero nearly cried into his soup as he was managing the budget and he had no intention of stopping a drunken killer from her drinks.

Kenny triple-checked the area around the ship, and noticed the worried faces on the staff. Then the waiters and waitresses started ushering everyone out. Zak stuffed his face before they were ushered out as well, and started choking until Brago thumped him on the back.

Kenny gave Zero the datapad, who nearly dropped it in shock."Kenny..are you sure of this...this is not good.."

Coughing, Zak spoke,"What is it?". Zero put the pad in clear view of the Ghosts as they hurriedly made their way to their rooms. The datapad had a star map on it showing several yellow blips surrounding a large blue one. Nora spoke in a hushed tone after examining the pad,"If the staff is worried, then the Proton Star can't do anything about this."

They changed course via telepathic signal from Zero to the docks. They had no weapons or armor, but they went towards the docks where a yellow blip had entered anyway. Some would call them brave, others courageous. Most called them stupid.

A short firefight had erupted in the hangar as Inagras and 2 dozen Steel Wolves fought the security and staff armed with guns. Inagras had a pistol oin both hands and every shot hit a mark, even though the ship was docked low and security fought from a rail above. Inagras ducked over to a box and returned fire hitting the head chef that just came in. Only two Steel Wolves were dead when the staff was down.

Inagras felt so sure of himself, he had done the research and found the Ghosts exact plan. This was a mere pleasure cruise before taking the flight in 10 days from the Voyager's Start to the Dominion. The Ghosts were merely vacationing before sending in the designs. What fools would leave such a weapon to rot on the floor of Harks?

"Sir the hangar is clear, should we infiltrate all rooms in the ship or wait?", asked one of the Steel Wolves.

"Hmmm..those blasted Ghosts should be here soon enough, but they don't have their weapons with them..",Inagras paused to consider the situation,"I will take a dozen men with me in search of the area, you hang back and see if the Ghosts come running, if they do don't kill them."

Inagras left the hangar with his men as two of the Steel Wolves hauled their fellow dead outlaws into their ship, the (very creative) Steel Wolf. As they were doing that...

Two thumps were barely heard inside the Steel Wolf as the two startled men carrying the corpses were hit by Brago and Zero. The Ghosts didn't have cloaking ability at the moment as their armor was in the Firefox, but they had snuck on the ship during the fight.

Sara was surprisingly controlling her drunkeness, though sometimes let out a giggle at nothing at particular. Kenny looked uncomfortably at the two unconscious criminals and the two dead, bleeding corpses."Well uhh...we gotta..you know...blend in..."

Zero shook his head, unwilling to strip a dead man, or a living one for that matter,"Lets just grab their weapons and attack from behind, Inagras is gone for now which should make this easier on us."

Kenny rechecked his datapad and muttered to himself, then spoke aloud,"These are Schezar's men and ships, not easy to take on, these guys were surprised but the other pirates plus Inagras PLUS the 8 surrounding ships are a major problem".

"*hic* hes right,"interjected Sara with a giggle,"We gotta uhh run *hic* ...or WE CAN STAY AND FIGHT WOOO!". The men outside heard the last yells and surrounded the ship."So much for the element of surprise...", Zero muttered, as he grabbed a fallen rifle.

Brago and Zero both had rifles while the rest took a pistol from the waist of each fallen man.

The Ghosts lined up at the wall of the Steel Wolf's hatch, and started firing at the gang members. Two went down, but so did Sara who got struck by a bullet while almost dancing out to the battlezone. Brago cursed and dragged her back in while Kenny gave up the firefight and tried activating the ship for a quick escape.

The volley continued for about 10 minutes as the Steel Wolves fell slowly. Then there was one more standing who saw he was alone and tried to run to Inagras, but was quickly taken down by Nora.

"That was easy..Brago how is Sara doing?",Zero commented after the last man went down. Brago examined the bullet wound and Sara's half conscious gibberish. "I would say shes suffering of extreme shock mostly, the bullet was nearly spent."

"Well we are the lucky ones aren't we...Kenny hack the system before Inagras gets back, we don't stand a chance against him and a dozen more troopers." Kenny was readying the cockpit controls for blastoff when it happened.

Inagras and 5 more Steel Wolves suddenly materialized out of nowhere. They had cloaked and came back to the ship at the sound of fighting while the rest went on ahead in search of the weapon. Inagras slashed Kenny on the head with his gun, two of the thugs grappled with Brago, Zero was having a firefight with one of them, while Nora was knocked cold by another thug. Sara was merely dragged away by the last one as she was still unconscious.

All five Ghosts were subdued in only a matter of minutes. Inagras smiled down at his fallen foes,"There is no design, but at least your now mine, I can sell you onto the mines of Barath or as slaves for some private mastermind," Inagras frowned when he thought next,"Of course, I owe Schezar for the men he's lost and I have to do lots of smuggling jobs, but it was just another gamble."

The Ghosts were taken into the supplies room with the other two unconscious guards and the two dead ones. Inagras started up the engines Kenny had so graciously prepared, and veered out into space, leaving the Proton Star far behind.

Then, when all were gone, a figure originally cloaked stood, horrified in the hangar amidst the bodies of the dead. He had taken a cloaking device from one of the dead outlaws.

He stood alone, having escaped Inagras's clutches unlike the other Ghosts.

Zak.

If you want I'll continue but if you don't I wont bother...


	5. Mission 3: Steel Wolves Part 2

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS IS THE END OF WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN FOR THIS STORY. THIS IS AN OLD STORY, and the writing is extremely novice. Anyway, its QUITE unlikely i'll write another chapter, this story is pretty much abandoned. I just felt the need to archive what I had left.

-------------------

Inagras frowned as he looked at the Ghosts."Wait, wasn't there a shrimp with you guys last time?"

Zero, still bleeding from a gash on his forehead, sent a signal to Brago to remain silent. Nora and Kenny were still unconscious from the sneak attack on them, while Sara was suffering headaches and sweating profusely from her alchohol overload and the bullet in her shoulder. Brago was the least unscaved, as he only was bleeding from five different places.

"Silent eh?",Inagras walked back to the supply hold door and ushered someone in. Behind Inagras came a man with tattered clothing and about five pistols holstered on his waists. His cold black eyes conveyed no emotion and he looked rather like someone who didn't greet prisoners nicely.

"This is....uhh....whatever the hell your name is,"said Inagras,"he was recruited as an interrogations officer but now that we know you don't have the weapon...well lets just say he's gonna have some fun with you guys. Don't let me bother you," and with that Inagras left the cargo hold and shut the door behind him. He smiled when he thought of the long night ahead of them.

Five steps away from the hold and already Inagras heard the screaming start...

Zak punched his fist into the cold metal barrels in the wrecked hangar.'How could I have just stood there and let them get away?'.He knew that there as nothing he could do against the sneak attack. Somehow he had managed to grab a cloaking device and escape Inagras, but now their was no way to pursue the pirates.

Around him were destroyed ships, some with bombs placed on them, some sabotaged from the inside, so noone could pursue or report the pirates. Most of the staff were dead lying in pools of their own blood when trying to take on the Steel Wolves. There were more than a dozen of said pirates' corpses on the ground, the life drained from all of them.

'What am I gonna do now damnit, I gotta save then...but I don't have a ship to follow them in'. Then Zak nearly hit himself as he realized what the Proton Star was.

"Captain, the vessel we left is fast approaching us."

This sudden report threw Inagras off guard."What the hell do you mean?!I thought we killed the pilot and shot the com link. We even jammed the electrical capability with an advanced device, the air should even be fading from the vessel because of the great big holes in it!"

The navigations officer who saw the layout of their small fleet of pirate ships rechecked the star map."But sir, the Proton Star is the largest vessel in the area and I can see it on our map, in fact we should get a visual on our rear viewport in a few moments."

Inagras suddenly realized why there was a shortage of Ghosts."Ah damnit",he reached for his communication link and radioed his fleet,"Ships #1 and #2, make a run for the Proton Star and board it when it comes into view, Ship #3, you cover them. Ship #4, you attack the outside of the ship and aim for their rear thrusters. If they manage to keep coming, all of you flank behind me and cover my ships rear".

Zak had used his substantial psionic powers to unblock the barricaded door to the cockpit, used his mind to take off the beeping jamming device, and fired up the thrusters in the direction of Inagras' fleeing ship. It turns out the damage to the ship wasn't "Great big holes" as Inagras thought. He closed the hangar's door with the gigantic safety hatch from the cockpit and with that, the ships systems stabilized and were ready for the pursuit.

Zak checked the flashing and beeping devices in the cockpit and saw the simplicity of the navigation controls. Two pilots could comfortably designate course while the other workers insured the long term survival through electrical regulation and other services and quite obviously, Zak didn't expect long term usage of the attacked cruiseliner.

The passengers were another concern, still locked in their rooms cowering in fear. The ones who were suspicious or defiant(or had to make a pit stop) were dead by bullets impacted on their skulls by the rampaging outlaws.

The Proton Star was barely capable of going as fast as the pirates ship's limit. Zak finally had a visual on the five ship fleet of the pirates when the above scene transmission happened(lol).

These pirates were his, all he had to do was gun them down. He reached for the weapon controls when he realized...

there were no weapon controls.

Great. Now what he do? The luxury cruiseliner couldn't jump into warpspace like the pirate ships could and he could still never get close enough to extend the boarding platform to one of the ships.

Four of the ships changed course and rocketed to Zak's direction. Two of the ships fired bolts at the closed hatch of the hangar while another shot Gemini Missiles from two of the mini turrets on their ship randomly, some even exloding harmlessly in the void of space.

Zak thought about turning the ship around and try to ram one of the annoying space bugs but realized the side thruster on starboard side was blown by a stray Gemini Missile(Well techinically if it was a stray GEMINI missile, then it would just be counted as a missile right?0_o)

A rocking ensued and Zak could hear the passengers screams from below. He checked the camera display and saw that the hangar camera was offline. He put his head back in defeat when he realized Inagras had left a hole in his strategy.

He stepped over some of the pilots bodies after putting on Auto-Pilot and headed towards the hangar.

Two of the pirate ships had landed in a clear space among the wreck of the docking bay. A dozen pirates spilled out of each and checked around for any hostiles. Two of the men had camera like devices that could see the thermal signatures of people under cloak(only thermal, nothing more!)

A little more than half of them made their wsy through the charred sliding door of the hangar, while the others, one left with a camera, guarded the ships. It was quiet a few minutes until

CLANG!

Two of the barrels hit the floor and all eyes trained on the scene. The one with the camera could see nothing there but suspected it as a diversion. Only he realized it a split second before Zak came from behind and knocked him out. The pirates had seen the ...well cameraman fall and fired their Gauss Rifles blindly at the spot.

Only this was what the crafty Ghost wanted. He used the cover of the firing guns and the noise to shoot his own machinegun picked up from the ground. Chaos and panic erupted as the space outlaws fell to their deaths. The blind firing of the pirates continued and some even hit their own men. However, good things do always come to an end, and Zak was finally pounded with a bullet.

The one who did it double checked and saw blood falling from the air and covering part of the invisible figures back in a uncomfortable rate. Zak then felt something he had never felt before as he fired the man down. He felt pure power, pure energy, coursing through him wanting to break free. It was almost uncontrolable.

In a sub conscious state, he deactivated the cloaking field and all firing ceased suddenly. The still standing pirates looked at the person who had revealed himself and trained their guns to him. And the next thing they saw was the last thing they would ever see. Zak was holding in his palm, a bright white light that seemed to crackle in his hands. The energy then increased and increased until it was the size of an Ultralisk's head. Then, he released the psionic power and bolts of lightning struck thug after thug in a chain lightning effect. Their bodies charred and exploded almost instantly as they fell.

Then it was quiet as the screams stopped. The lightning vanished into the air and Zak shook his head to try to clear his mind. He barely had any idea of what he had done, but the evidence was in his body. The power coursed through him like never before. He was told he had the power of a High Templar but he had no idea he could unleash such force.

Another rocking ensued as Ship #'s 3 and 4 continued to pound the ship closer to Zak's location. The ghost quickly planted a time bomb on the ship to his right. Zak then entered the vessel to his left and readied the takeoff commands. The passengers of the Proton Star had to be saved, and so did the Ghost Unit.

"WHAT THE HELL?!, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SHIP IS GONE?"

The pirate quivered under Inagras's glare and shakingly spoke of how ship #2's crew was found dead with their ship taken while ship #1's crew was stranded on the Proton Star.

Inagras swore and reached for the com link to warn ship #3 and 4 to shoot down the stolen vessel.

"Damnit, these Ghosts just wont give up will they?"

In the space of five minutes Zak had killed a whole pirate's ship crew, stolen their ship, and got locked in deadly space combat with two other ships. Zak executed a barrel roll and fired off a blast from one of the mini turrets. The missile blew up before it hit the target as Burst Lasers from Ship #3 ripped it open.

The other ship fired Gemini Missiles from all four of its turrets hoping to end the battle quickly. Zak fired up the thrusters on the right side and the back causing the ship to move left out of the way of the exploding missiles. Burst Lasers from both enemy ships continued pounding the space behind Zak's stolen craft.

Suddenly, both ships ceased fire and focused all power to thrusters to give chase. Zak fired missiles from the back of his craft while his pursuers expertly fired Burst Lasers on the slow moving and predictable path of the Gemini Missiles.

Zak needed a new plan of attack for certain if he wanted to survive. Thats when his eye caught a button sequence below the active star map depicting the battle. Ever curious, he quickly punched specific coordinates in, crossed his fingers, and hoped it was a weapon button.

Two ports opened up on the front and back of the ship with two Hailfire Ion Missiles wedged in. Zak could not have picked a better time to find this as the pirates behind him activated the missile ports as well. The Ghost pressed the firing button and the two Hailfire Missiles in the back shot out. At the same time, the pirate ships also released their front missiles.

The smart bombs locked onto each others energy signatures and all six collided in a brilliant flash of flaming orange. Ship #3 flew right into it and was incinerated. Ship #4 quickly veered out of the way escaping. Zak turned his ship around and fired off the smart bombs int he front of his vessel. Ship #4 destroyed one of them but the other one smashed directly into the cockpit. The ships front was torn open as the space outlaws in the back cried in fear and flew out into the vacuum of space(space really doesnt have a vacuum if your ship blows a hole but hey).)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara screamed again as another needle was pierced into her skin. Their cold eyed tormentor looked gleeful as he reached for another needle. Sara had awoken and started to vomit. The man had rushed over and started to torture her to make up for lost time. Zero had passed out because of extreme blood loss from several lacerations on his chest. Brago was still conscious despite the powerful interrogation serums that made his mind go fuzzy and his body go numb. Kenny had been bashed many times in the skull by his beloved datapad which was now a pile of a few tangled wires and dented metal. Nora had each of her arms broken and her fingers cracked. She gave a howl of agony and gritted her teeth in pain every few seconds.

They all, conscious or not, thought the same thing, which was for Zak to help them...and then kill him for ever bringing them on vacation.

'How could this happen?' thought Inagras. He had lost four freighters and more than eight dozen men with nothing to show for it. He could never dream to repay Schezar now. His ever devious mind did find an alternative though. He would land on Takara, then poison the crew whilst they slept with a powerful substance in the interrogaters "kit", and take the ship for his own needs to find other work.

All he wanted now was to end the pursueing Ghosts' life and sell the rest to work on slave mines for private crime lords.

He took the controls from the pilot and readied himself for the battle ahead.

Zak finally made visual on the fleeing pirate ship and focused rear thrusters to give chase. The Ghost fired off Burst Lasers in an attempt to bring the pirate to land on the nearby moon, which was really a planet with its own gravity field. Inagras dodged and made a beautiful U-turn while firing his own Burst Lasers.

Immediantly, Zak turned and tried to lose the now pursueing ship. He let all of his Gemini Missiles in his rear turrets heading in the way of the ship to stall. It worked and Inagras had to use his bottom thrusters used for takeoff and landing to successfully maneuver himself out of the way of the missiles. Zak turned once again and continued the volley of Burst Lasers.

Inagras's lasers caused fires on the left side of Zak's ship while Zak made a successful hit to his front right thruster. They continued the volley back and forth and veering out of each others ways. Suddenly, as both ships were flying smack towards each other, Inagras activated a top port that came between all four turrets(the wrecked one still in vision).

Zak hoped that wasn't what he thought it was.

It was.

A beam of light radiated from the port as the thursters on Inagras's ship faded. Zak turned around and tried fleetingly to get out of the way of the oncoming blast. The beam of light became an orb of power and was released at lightning speed. It came, it came, it HIT. Warning lights went off as Zak's ship rocked. A fire had erupted above and to the sides of the ship. The Yamato Gun had missed most of the shot, but a little part had hit the back of Zak's ship and created a fire.

The ship started to rock insanely as Zak unknowingly reached the gravatational axis of the planet. He reached for a big red button he hoped was his own Yamato Cannon and prayed he had enough power and accuracy left(The Yamato Cannon on such small ships require huge amounts of energy and are used sparingly on specialized vessels).

Inagras had flown close to try to destroy Zak before he landed in fear of the Ghost surviving and finding assistance. The planet was called Chor'aAwl. Colonies of Protoss lived on that planet. These Protoss did not abide to the warrior codes of the Conclave or other alien tribes, instead living in peace in the Earthlike atmosphere of the planet. That was all that was known of the strange pacifist Protoss and no others were said to exist anywhere. They still had technoligy on their side and could give the Ghost a ride offworld.

Zak charged the blast and fired. Inagras saw the blast on his screen and tried failingly to turn his ship. It hit the side and created a massive hole and power outage on the ship. It would be crushed by the void of space in few seconds if something were not done. Steel Wolves flew out of the vessel and suffocated while Inagras gunned the ship down to the planet.

Zak and Inagras both reached the surface, metal flaming and screaming.

The Steel Wolves left the ship ten minutes after the explosive descent. The two ships would've been destroyed at landing if not for the bottom thrusters and the minor gravity pull of the planet. There were only four of the thugs left that weren't buried under wreckage, set on fire, or sucked into the void of space. Inagras had somehow survived the rapid descent as well even though the cockpit was a smoldering wreck.

The supply hold wasnt undamaged, but the Ghosts and the cruel interrogater survived without a scratch. A few minutes later the said agents and man unsteadily left the ship. In the other ship parrelel Zak came out, his Gauss Rifle and Energy Pistol ready.

The exhausted thugs sighed and raised their guns, while Inagras came out of the ship.

"Damned bastard! Why couldn't you just run away and save us the trouble! It ends here bitch, for you and your friends". Inagras took out his two pistols while the torturer did the same with two of his five holstored ones. They both aimed their pistols at the broken five Ghosts in front of them.

Suddenly, Brago's eyes snapped open and he attacked with a bone shattering punch to the jaw of the interrogater's skull. He fell in shock while Inagras tried to shot Brago down. Kenny made his move as well and grabbed the torturers body to position it as a human shield to Brago and himself.

The interrogater was pounded with bullets while the Steel Wolf thugs scattered for cover in the nearby rock formations. Nora was also awakened and aimed a beautiful roundhouse kick (Chuck Norris style) to Inagras's stomach. He jumped back and joined one of his underlings behind a boulder to the left.

Zak finally reacted and fired his Gauss Rifles at the thugs causing the rocks they were hiding behind to chip away. Kenny, stil holding the corpse of the interrogater, took two pistols of his holster and dropped the body pounding his acquired laser pistols at Inagras. Brago merely took the still unconscious Sara and Zero into cover and tried to treat their wounds as best he could without his medical kit.

The first thug went down when his gun flew out of his hand after a bullet shot and followed up with a headshot. Inagras compensated when he hit Kenny in the chest with a bullet, causing the Ghost to slip into unsteady unconsciousness. On the firefight went, the Ghosts rolling out of the way and firing their guns, the thugs poking their heads out and pulling them out. The guns weren't even close to losing ammo as some were lasers and futuristic weapons tended to have more compact bullets.

Brago continued to try to cover up the bleeding from his friends even as the firefight turned more heated. Inagras came out of cover, pistols flaring and nearly shredded Zak with his onslaught. The Ghost had used his substantial psionic skill and had anticipated the move seconds before. Nora had somehow gotten behind one of the pirates and kicked him senseless(her arms being useless). Just as the unfortunate pirate was passing out, Nora was hit with a mighty punch to the chest by another of the pirates and fell. Only Zak was left to battle the pirates and they realized it all too soon.

Zak ran to the left of the firing range while he shot his Gauss Rifle. One of the outlaws was silenced when a bullet hit his head. Inagras held off on his shot and tried firing in the Ghosts path to get a hit. However his pyschic opponent got the message, stopped, and shot the last pirate down. Inagras was the last one standing, but if he could beat Zak he could outrun the injured Brago.

Inagras squeezed off a shot hitting Zak in the left shoulder while Zak abandoned his heavy rifle and pounded Inagras in the leg with a red hot laser from his pistol. Inagras jumped back into cover and gritted his teeth while trying to shot down the stubborn Ghost. However when he peeked out the Ghost had vanished. He looked the other way but still no Ghost. With a sense of dread he slowly looked up the dislodged boulder.

Zak was looking down on him, his body cut and bruised and his pistol held in hand, pointing at his head.

"Drop the gun pirate, its over"

Zero once again entered the dominion office of the dictator Mengsk. Only this time, Zak accompanied him. Brago and Zak had gotten help at the Protoss colony and the tortured Ghosts were treated and Inagras and one of his underlings were mailed straight to Dominion prisons. The Protoss weren't as peaceful as they seemed when the Ghosts had asked for help though. Some thought to leave the bloodied Terrans for fear they would be caught in a fight with their enemies. However, they soon recieved assistance and were given a ship offworld within two weeks.

The wounds would heal quickly with the technology available to Protoss and Terrans and even Nora's arms would be reconnected after the psionic assistance with reseting the bone in the space of a few days.

Then Mengsk had called both the captain and the savior/bragging lucky loudmouth to his office once more.

"Ah...Zak is it? So good to meet you", Mengsk said with a nod. Zak and Zero were both taken aback, wasn't the captain supposed to be acknowledged?

Looking at their somewhat startled exterior the emperor decided to get to the point, like he always did.

"Listen up boy, do you want to serve the dominion in the greatest way possible?,said Mengsk in a sudden harsh voice. Zak got a nervous look on his face and quickly nodded his head.

"Then I think you would be interested in a top secret project for the psionically gifted Ghosts that we have. To be able to conjure psionic lightning like a Protoss Templar is an amazing feat, and being able to survive it is even more amazing. Of course you will be payed extremely well and-"

Zak shook his head no with an almost terrified look on his face. The Ghost projects before were tests to see if the body could withstand poison or how long a psionically gifted Terran could go without food. The first Ghosts who survived it were never the same, like poor Sarah Kerrigan who had lived in fear years after finally being saved by Mengsk and had been one of his greatest agents before the Zerg overtook New Gettysburg many months earlier.

But then Zero surprised the young Ghost,"Of course Zak would come for this oppurtunity. I will transfer him to the labs immediantly sir".

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!, YOU CANT HONESTLY SEND ME...there...."

Zero just looked away pain written on his face,"I am sorry for speaking out during the times you gave me my missions sir. I now have a good squad who can live up to 414's name. I remember I am a loyal Ghost committed to the Dominion. My old squad should not have made me as defiant as I was before. Zak will assist you with this new project of course, but I implore you not to throw his life away."

Mengsk had a proud look on his face and spoke,"I knew you would come out of it sometime. I am honored to have a Squad captain such as you, and I salute you Captain Siloh,"and salute he did, which was something he hadn't done to anyone for a long time,"I also called you in here to give your squadron a mission to go to Rank A instantly, after all capturing Inagras would be a Rank S in itself. I will take the boy, you need not sign papers".

Disbelief and shock was written all over Zak's face,"Z-Zero, you can't just send me there, please no...no, how could you? I-I saved your life and-"

Zero had already headed towards the door and paused,"Oh one more thing Zak,"

Zak looked up,hopeful.

"Its Captain Siloh to you".

And Zero shut the door behind him.


End file.
